The agenda includes such topics as the reason for deterioration of the relations between Russia and the United States, the political conflict around Ukraine, US attempts to isolate Russia and prospects for bilateral relations.

“The US Congress has just adopted a resolution which means declaration of a cold war to us,” chairman of the Duma’s international affairs committee Alexey Pushkov from the ruling United Russia party said a day before the hearings.

“The US actions make a new ‘reset’ impossible. The hearings will be devoted to how to build relations in the future,” Pushkov said.

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed anti-Russian Resolution 758 on December 4. The document in particular accuses Russia of being an “aggressor” in relation to its neighbors and calls on US President Barack Obama to provide the Ukrainian government with “lethal and nonlethal defense articles, services and training.”

The positions of Russia and Western nations on the Ukrainian developments differ radically. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the intra-Ukrainian crisis, but the West accuses Moscow of participation in clashes in Ukraine’s war-torn southeast and has subjected Russia to sanctions.

Russian officials and companies came under the first batch of Western sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, after Russia incorporated Crimea in mid-March after a coup rocked Ukraine in February.

The West announced new, sectoral, restrictions against Russia in late July, in particular, for what the West claimed was Moscow’s alleged involvement in protests in Ukraine’s southeast.

In response, Russia imposed on August 6 a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the EU, the United States and Norway.

Russia has constantly dismissed Western allegations that it could in any way be involved in hostilities in the southeast of Ukraine.